Science Fiction Aficionados discussion
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What are you currently reading?
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Mary
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Mar 24, 2020 06:54PM
Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
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StillStruggling through abaddons gate by james sa corey.
I've gone back in time to read a sci-fi classic, The Midwich Cuckoo by John Wyndham. Very amusing :)
Recall having to read one of his books in high school for Grade 13 English B, but I don't think it was that one.
The Unbearable Heaviness of Remembering by L. Jagi LamplighterOpens with a lock-down. Which obviously, given the length of time it takes to write a book, is a coincidence.
Not exactly cience Fiction but it does deal with the concept of parallel worlds.Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups, Vol. 1
A New Hope. I am rereading it after forty-three years. It's better written than I was expecting, considerably better than Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
Man in the maze - Robert Silverberg... i had not heard much of this book before but it's a hidden gem
Symona wrote: "Man in the maze - Robert Silverberg... i had not heard much of this book before but it's a hidden gem"Do you have a date for when the book was originally published. I know Silverberg got more or less disillusioned with science fiction in the late sixties and quit being involved with it for a few years. Might have something to with it.
C. John wrote: "Do you have a date for when the book was originally published. I know Silverbe..."The Man in the Maze was originally published in two parts in the April and May 1968 issues of If, and as a one-part novel the following year. I looked it up because this book looks interesting to me too. Hawksbill Station, one of my all-time favorites, was published that same year.
If there was a period when Silverberg became disillusioned with SF, this is the first time I've heard of it. We're going to have to pull his Aficionado card if substantiated. He published at least one SF work every year of the 1960s and 1970s, though some of the '70s work was just editing anthologies.
He announced his retirement in 1975 due to being disillusioned with the state of science fiction, but returned to writing in 1980. I have some coverage about this in an issue of one of Richard Geis’ fanzines but it is storage.
The users manual of Sketchup, and boy is it tedious, but you have to study the instructions if you want to use the software.
Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein.
I'm currently working my way through the Hugo Packet. I have begun with Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series.
Yesterday, I started Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. For context, a number of years ago I discovered that I really like books that won the Nebula award. And so I read the books that won the Nebula (with deviations and incursions into some other directions, naturally). If the book that won the award is one in a series and I like it, I also read the series. This is one of the books on the list. Anyhow, I am doing it as an audio book. I am completely swept off my feet. The book is incredibly intense. Something absolutely amazing and terrifying is developing and it coils around my soul like an eldritch vine and whispers of unspeakable [yep; totally lovecraftian] horrors and keeps me on the edge of my seat. I forgot of all the outside trouble and worries as I follow The Biologist into the dark non-euclidian Tower/tunnel.
Margaret wrote: "I am currently reading David Brin's Uplift saga and Uplift trilogy. Very good. If you like dolphins and chimps "uplifted" to sapience but still maintaining the intrinsic characters, you might enjoy..."Oh, that's good series. I still have some of those on my list but what I did read was very creative and neat.
Laura wrote: "Maggie wrote: Laura-I'd recommend joining in one of our reads......."I might just do that :) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy might be a good place to start. Thank you :) xx"
The Hitchhiker's Guide is an absolute must-read! You will enjoy it. Make sure you keep your towel with you.
Jukka wrote: "I just started reading the 2nd part of Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy. The Three-Body Problem was absolutely brilliant and an excellent reading experience. Hopefully The Dark Fores..."I loved it, too! I read the 3-Body problem and the Dark Forest and decided to take a little break from the series for now but will get back eventually. I like the scientific, thoughtful approach to things in them. I also hope the US readers take to heart the depictions of the persecutions of the Cultural Revolution.
Zina wrote: "Yesterday, I started Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. For context, a number of years ago I discovered that I really like books that won the Nebu..."I loved the first one but struggled with the second. I'm actually happy to leave it at one book, even though a lot is unanswered. That's not always a bad thing.
Scott wrote: "Zina wrote: "Yesterday, I started Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. For context, a number of years ago I discovered that I really like books that..." I can see that. I am now on that second book and it is somewhat more detached, less intense, seen through the eye of a very different person. It loses some of the Lovecraftian vibe here taking on an additional intellectual riddle-solving layer. Control is trying to reconstruct what happens from the clues, many of them just secondary, left by the Director and the Biologists' efforts to reconstruct what happens. This appeals to the Data Scientist in me and I am liking it nonetheless.But yeah - the first one won the Nebula award and the rest of them didn't, and I can see why.
M.E.V. wrote: "Normal People by Sally Rooney"Me, too. It is easy to read but I am not sure if I like it.
I finished Normal People which was a bit meh.Currently I am reading Scourge. The story is not terribly original but I like it so far. However I do feel the writing could have been tightened up bit with less repetition also less 'tell' more 'show'.
Just got a couple of books to finish off then I'm going to start on The Dispossessed. Really looking forward to getting stuck in to Ursula K. Le Guin science fiction stuff. I've only read her fantasy stuff so far, specifically the Earthsea series but I absolutely love her writing style.
My only problem is that the bulk of my SF is in the storage locker. I cannot even be sure of which boxes it is in. Have a bit here which I will eventually get too.
Almost done with the The Windup Girl. What a ride! It - among other things - sends me back to Parable of the Talents because a) the post-apocalyptic setting- a bit different but still; and b) the whole God is Change apparently is Buddhist - I should have known by now, and I might have "sort of" known but the Windup Girl really focuses it for me. Half through, I thought Captain Jaidee was narrow-minded, bigoted and mislead in his accusations of AgroGen as those who brought the plagues on. I was a bit disappointed to realize that he was right. To me that took away from the situation and added a silly layer.
Anyhow, it is all pretty intense and I am at the point where I am still not sure what will happen next, and I am seriously rooting for both, Anderson and Emiko over the lot of them.
I just finished "I call him HIM" by Scott W. Kimak. It was AMAZING!
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